Scottsdale,
Ariz. - The role of the medical consultant is crucial when the Arizona Medical Board (AMB) investigates complaints against physicians involving quality of care issues. In the past, much of the caseload went to outside medical consultants. The Chief Medical Consultant Mark Nanney, M.D., believes the work can be better done in-house.
Shortly after joining the AMB as the full-time Chief Medical Consultant in May, Dr. Nanney went to work assembling a team of in-house consultants. With the recent addition of three more board certified physicians, the AMB now has six medical consultants on staff. And he may add another, depending on how well the present team keeps up with the caseload.
The new medical consultants are Kelly Sems, M.D., board certified in both Internal Medicine and Rheumatology, who has joined full-time; and two new part-time medical consultants, Gerald Moczynski, M.D., board certified in Orthopedic Surgery; and Ingrid Haas, M.D., board certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology. Until this past July, Dr. Haas was a member of the AMB, and now will share her expertise in investigating complaints.
The AMB receives a great deal of complaints regarding pain management, orthopedic surgeons, obstetricians and gynecologists. With the new medical consultants, the AMB can now review these cases internally. Additionally, as a former board member, Dr. Haas brings valuable insight in how to best prepare cases for presentation to the Board Members.
Already handling cases part-time were Roderic Huber, M.D., who is board certified in Internal Medicine, and William Wolf, M.D., board certified in General Surgery.
By dealing with more cases internally, the AMB can maintain a standardized system that will result in timely and better case reviews. “We want to bring to the Board a uniform analysis,” Dr. Nanney said.
The increase in and diversity of in-house consultants is expected to speed up the investigation process. The AMB has hundreds of physicians in private practice willing to review cases; however, it has had difficulty finding outside medical consultants in some specialties who were willing or able to review cases. With the range of experience of the in-house consultants, Dr. Nanney believes “we‘ve solved big issues in that regard.”
The Arizona Medical Board licenses and regulates more than 17,500 physicians, of whom more than 10,000 have Arizona addresses. The AMB offices are located at 9545 East Doubletree Ranch Road in Scottsdale.
|